Quakers seal play-off home advantage

A 3-0 victory over Farsley today was Darlington’s fifth successive league win, which effectively sealed second position and home advantage in the play-offs.

With two games to go, Quakers are six points ahead of third-placed Warrington with a much better goal difference, thanks in part to their form of late.

They have scored 16 goals in their last five games with the three today being netted by Ian Ward, Amar Purewal and Leon Scott.

They could face Farsley again in the end-of-season promotion shindig, and should the teams meet Quakers would love a repeat of today’s scoreline, though they did not have it easy against a team on the fringes of the play-off picture.

Ward gave Darlington the lead with a cracking goal on 35 minutes, volleying home after Jonny Davis whipped in a right-wing cross.

The goal was the only difference between the sides during what was an evenly-matched first 45 minutes, but second-half strikes by Purewal and Scott clinched victory.

After a missing one-on-one opportunity before the break, Purewal kept a cool head to finish on 59 minutes after being played in by David Dowson.

And a fantastic goal by Scott made it 3-0 on 66 minutes. The midfielder won a tackle on edge of the penalty area and then blasted at goal from 20 yards. Keeper Tom Morgan made a hash of the save, the ball was coming straight to him but he pushed it onto the post and it bounced into the net for Scott’s second goal of the season.